Capital Card-6 Months On

23 May 2018

The Capital Card

The Capital Card® is WDP’ own reward card scheme. It rewards service users, families and carers for attending appointments and getting involved in activities. The points they earn can then be spent on fun activities such as cinema tickets or gym passes.

The Capital Card® (CC) was first introduced in Hackney in April 2017, since then the Capital Card® has been rolled-out into 2 other services. Feedback on the Capital Card has been positive across the board:

“I look forward to going to the new Cinema. I have 40 points now – I can bring a friend!” HRS service user.

“I’m working towards getting the year Gym membership! Can’t wait to start!”-HRS Service User.

“Capital Cards® have been a great incentive for Service Users!”- WDP recovery practitioner

“I am excited to see how the Capital Card® Scheme can develop further and how the rewards on offer will evolve the longer this scheme goes on. Keep up the good work!”- HRS Mental Health Nurse.

We have been lucky to have more spend partners show their support and join the scheme. This has led to a 134% increase in the points service users have spent on rewards. At the end of October 2017 over 49,000 points were awarded to Users and over 200 rewards were redeemed with our spend partners.

The top three Spend Rewards for at the end of after 6 months for Hackney were:

One Year Gym Membership (100 points): 24

Capital Card® Shop (50 points): 14

Personal Training (3 months) (75 points): 11

We are extremely thankful to all our spend partners who support the Capital Card® and our users.

Outcomes

In order for us to consider how the CC is impacting on recovery journeys, we have compared outcomes of those with CCs against those without. This has shown:

Capital Card® has had a positive impact on those successfully completing treatment or staying in treatment for 12+ weeks, compared to Non-Capital Card® users. (Average 79.7% for CC users, compared to Average of 77% for Non-CC users1).

Capital Card® significantly impacts attendance rates across key working, clinical appointments and groups. Most significant difference being in Structured Group work where Capital Card® users attended 21.7% more groups than Non-Capital Card® users in Q1 17/182.

Future of the Capital Card®

The CC has already proved to be effective. As we roll out to different services, we will need to take the learnings from Hackney to ensure smooth integration elsewhere.

As we implement the Capital Card® into new services, taking the experience, we have gained from Hackney Recovery Service, we expect to see a greater level of integration throughout the new services. We will also continue to improve service user engagement within the scheme, through Service user forums and through the Capital Card® Ambassador and peer mentor programs.

Spend partners are the life-blood of the scheme, by constantly increasing the number of spend partners who can offer our users goods, experiences and training that may otherwise be inaccessible to them, we will ensure that the capital card keeps service users motivated throughout their recovery and equipped with skills and tools for life post recovery. We will continue to use the brands and products survey to identify new potential spend partners that users express an interest in seeing as part of the scheme.

The Capital Card® is an exciting first for the sector, and with constant adaptation that the sector is having to make in response to local and national government priorities, the Capital Card Scheme represents a new and evidenced base approach to service User engagement that brings the community back to those who feel furthest away from it.

Keep up to date with the latest Capital Card® by checking here and our Twitter feed regularly.